Caversham Park
| Caversham Park | |
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View from the south east
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 Location within Reading
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| Former names | Caversham Manor |
| General information | |
| Status | Grade II listed |
| Type | Stately home |
| Architectural style | Greek |
| Location | Caversham, Berkshire, UK |
| Coordinates | 51°28′50″N 0°57′27″W / 51.4805°N 0.9574°WCoordinates: 51°28′50″N 0°57′27″W / 51.4805°N 0.9574°W |
| Construction started | 1850 |
Caversham Park is a Victorian stately home with parkland in the suburb of Caversham, on the outskirts of Reading, England. Historically located in Oxfordshire, with boundary changes it became part of Berkshire in 1911. Caversham Park is home to BBC Monitoring and BBC Radio Berkshire.
The history of Caversham Park goes back to at least Norman times, when Walter Giffard, a distant relative of William the Conqueror, was given the estate after the 1066 conquest. The estate, then Caversham Manor, was a fortified manor house or castle, probably nearer the Thames than the present house. The estate was registered in the Domesday Book, in an entry describing a property of 9.7 square kilometres (2,400 acres) worth £20. The estate passed to William Marshall, Earl of Pembroke and Protector of the Realm, in the late 12th century. Marshall, who in his final years acted as de facto regent under the reign of a young Henry III, died in Caversham Park in 1219.
Later it was occupied by the Earls of Warwick. In 1542, it was bought by Sir Francis Knollys, the treasurer of Queen Elizabeth I. However, he did not move here until over forty years later, when he completely rebuilt the house slightly to the north. Sir Francis' son, William Knollys, the Earl of Banbury, entertained Queen Elizabeth I and Queen Anne of Denmark here.
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Wikipedia